U.s. May Not Pay Hawkins' Drug Test Tab

WASHINGTON — The Senate Rules Committee chairman has told Sen. Paula Hawkins, R-Fla., she may not be able to use taxpayer money to pay for almost $500 worth of drug tests for her aides.

Citing a preliminary ruling by the committee staff against federal payment, Sen. Charles Mathias, R-Md., told Hawkins the full 15-member panel will consider the question at its next meeting.

If the senators rule against using government money, Hawkins will pay the $483 tab from campaign contributions, a speaking fee or from her own pocket, said Bill Hart, her press secretary.

The Rules Committee is expected to meet in several weeks, said John Childers, its staff director. The issue of congressional drug testing ''is something that is not going to go away,'' he said, although no other senator has asked about rules covering payment for such tests.

The urinalysis test -- used to identify traces of marijuana, cocaine and opiates such as heroin and morphine -- was given April 14 to Hawkins' 69 paid staffers, volunteer interns and Congressional Fellows in Washington, Winter Park, Tallahassee and Miami.

The test did not cover pharmaceuticals such as painkillers, tranquilizers, sleeping pills, anti-depressants, amphetamines or illicit designer drugs that simulate the effects of legal medication, Hart said.

Two aides in Hawkins' Winter Park office were ill and did not take the test. A third staffer, who worked on the Senate subcommittee on children, families, drugs and alcoholism chaired by Hawkins, resigned rather than take the test.

The woman, who was a Congressional Fellow paid by the American Psychological Association, objected to the test on principle. That refusal cost her the job, Hart said.

Hawkins was tested while at Duke University Medical Center, where she had two operations on her spine to relieve chronic pain in her back and neck, Hart said.